Blue Dart, the express air and integrated transportation and distribution company, has launched its first all-women service centre, run by 16 women. These employees manage the Blue Dart All Women Service Centre at Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, playing the roles of managers, customer service representatives, security personnel as well as counter staff.
This is a first in the logistics space, which is dominated by men. Ever since its inception, the Company has been putting in efforts to be gender inclusive, encouraging capable women to take on senior leadership roles in the organisation.
Blue Dart also plans to take on more women and launch another similar service centre in Andheri, which will have 70 per cent women shouldering responsibilities along with the men.
Balfour Manuel, managing director, Blue Dart, inaugurated the Centre and highlighted the fact that people remain the Company’s priority, irrespective of gender, age, race or caste. He said, “We have always supported and encouraged our women colleagues to independently run their functions, seeing as their contributions have helped Blue Dart become the Gold Standard of Express Logistics in India. From women couriers to our senior leadership team – managing director of Blue Dart Aviation, Tulsi Mirchandaney and our national customer service head – Sonia Nair, women have played an integral role in leading Blue Dart to set and achieve new milestones, year on year. They remain an inspiration for many, myself included.”
Manuel emphasised the importance of diversity, given the Company’s “wide-ranging customer base.” In his words, “We require a diverse workforce that mirrors and understands each customer demographic deeply. This is key to our success in helping us fulfill customer expectations and demand.”
With its motto being ‘Connecting People, Improving Lives’, Blue Dart focuses on three key pillars, GoGreen (protecting the environment), GoTeach (championing education) and GoHelp (Disaster management response). While the focus lies on increasing diversity, efforts are also being made to control the carbon footprint. That is why, it has introduced electric vehicles for women couriers.
Blue Dart has pioneered several gender diversity initiatives, such as highlighting its women couriers through the ‘Thank You, You Inspire Us’ series. The logistics provider has also initiated a ‘Why Do We Love to Work for Blue Dart’ portal on its website career page, which aims to provide prospective women Blue Darters with an understanding of what working at Blue Dart as a woman is like. The portal contains testimonies from women working with Blue Dart who have found success within the organisation in varying roles.
The Female Employee Referral Programme encourages more women to join the workforce. As part of the ‘women in aviation’ initiative, Blue Dart works closely with the Airports Authority of India each year, to familiarise young schoolgirls with various aspects of the aviation industry.
